Internal-combustion motor.



G. B. COLLIER.

INTERNAL COMBUSTION MOTOR.

APPLICATION FILED MAR.23.1912.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

Patented Feb. 2, 1915.

Jwwziar 7?.

G. B. COLLIER.

INTERNAL GOMBUSTION MOTOR.

APPLICATION FILED MIX 11.23.1912. 1 ,1 263W. Patented Feb. 2, 1915.

3 SHEETSSHEET 3.

GUY 1B. ('JOLLIIER, OF KINDERHOQK,

E STATES .PxrEN r OFFICE.

NEW YORK.

INTERNAL-COMBUSTION MOTOR.

Specification of Letters Patent.

' Application filed' March 23, 1912. Serial Ito. 685,757;

To all whom it mag concern: I

Be it known that I, GUY B.COLLIER, a

, citizen of the United States, residing at Kinderhook, in the county of Columbia and Stateof New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Internal- Ooinbustion Motors; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description 'of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it .appertains to make and use the same.

The present invention relates to lnternal combustion motors, and more particularlyto rotary valve'mechanisms employed'in connection with this. type of motor.-

When this type of valve is subjected to the varying pressures occurring within the combustionchamber of the motor, an unbalanced pressure is exerted upon the valve Which must be balanced automatically if the wear upon the valve is to be reduced to a'minimum and a gas tight joint maintained between the valve and its seat.

' 'The object of the present invention is to provide a valve mechanism of this type which affords large port and passage areas forthe admission and exhaust of the gases from the cylinder without leakage of the same, and which may be operated with a small expenditure of power while maintain-- ing a gas tight joint indefinitely.

Vith thisobject in view, the several features of the invention consist in certain novel features of construction, combinations and arrangements of parts hereinafter described and claimed, the advantages. of

which will be obvious to those skilled in the art from the following description;

In the accompanying drawings illustrating the preferred form .of the invention; Figure 1 represents a front elevation of an internal combustion motor embodying the several features of the invention in their tons 3 operatively connected to the crank shaft 4 through connecting rods 5 A single valve supplies two adjacent cylinders and the valve chamber is provided with a water jacketed-valve seat housing 6 having a port 7 opening into each of the cylinders. A' rotary valve is indicated at 8 and is provided with an inlet port 9 and an ,outlet port 10 which open into' separate chambers formed 1 in the interior of the valve and divided by a partition 11. As will be noted from an inspection of Fig. 3,.this valve is in the form of'a hollow sleeve having open ends which comn. 111163.136 through the chambers with the inlet and exhaust .ports of the valve. valve is rotated continuously to bringthe inlet and outlet ports of the valve successively into register with the cylinder ports by a vertical shaft 13 which is driven from a valve shaft 15 through intermeshing bevel gears 16 and 17 As will .be noted from an inspection of Fig. 1, the cranks of the two adjacent cylinders are positioned 180 apart and the valve shaft 15 is driven at one half the speed of the crank shaft so that the inlet and exhaust ports of the valve, which are positioned 90 apart, are brought into register with each cylinder port at the Patented Feb. 2, 1915.

The

proper time. The above described construction forms no part of the present invention and is fully described in the co-pending application of Wales, Serial No; 658,526, filed October 24, 1911. -i

"This valve is employed in connection with a gas engine of the four-cycle type in which the successive strokes of the piston are explosion, exhaust, suction and compression.

During the exhaust and suction strokes (if the piston, the exhaust and inlet ports of the valve respectively register with the cylinder port, but during the explosion and compression strokes of the piston the cylinder port is closed by the blank wall of the valve and the pressure of the gas in the cylinder upon this wall causes an unbalanced pressure to be exerted upon the valve if not compensated for in some manner.

In the present invention, a cylindrical valve is employed and is balanced laterally by applying to the Valve diametrically posite each cylinder port a pressure whi h is equal and oppositely directed to the pressure applied to the valve through the cylinder port.

It willv be obvious that the only unbalanced pressure upon the valve which needs to 'be. .balanced automatically is the lateral during strokes respectively. v

In the preferred form of the invention,

the pressure tending to force the valve against its seat is slightly greaterthan the: conveniently removed by providing a pressure through the cylinder port tending to force the valve; away from its seat and Varies in-synchronism therewith, thus maintaining the valve in close contact with the seat adjacent the cylinder, port and prevent-.- ing any leakage of gas between the two surfaces. The valve 8 is cylindrical in form, as shown clearly in Fig. 3 of the drawings and rotates in a valve seat 20 which is secured in the valve seat housing 6. Each of the cylinders is provided with a pressure pi e 22 connecting the explosion chamber 0 the -;cylinder with'two pressure chambers 24 and 2'5 formed in the'top and bottom 'of the valve seat 20 diametrically opposite to the port 7 of the cylinder. The. total, lateral pressure exerted upon both the upper and lower portions of the valve by each pair of chambers is equal to'or slightly greater than the pressure exertedthrough the opposite cylinder port, thus balancing the valve laterally without cramping in its seat.

.Each chamber is provided with a dummy piston, indicated M130, and having provision for a slight longitudinal movementin the chambers. The smaller end of the dummy pistonis pressed against the wall of the valve -to seal the chamber, preventing a leakage of gas out of the chamber between the valve and valve seat and contributing a part of the lateral balance. The inlet and exhaust ports are rectangular in form and extend only throughout a portion of the length of the valve, thus 1mg ing a continuous band of metal around the upper and lower margins of the valve to seal the ends of the dummy piston. The

, outer portion of the chamber is enlarged and the dummy piston is provided with an annular flange which extends into the recess, "the upper side of the flange forming an extended surface over which; the pressure is applied to maintain the dummy pis- [011 in engagement with the valve.

In the construction shown, the chamber is closed upon the outside by a threaded cap 31 which is tapped to receive a branch pipe leading fromthe main pipe 22. With this construction, the gas acting'upon the outer extended face of the dummy piston. presses it firmly against/the valve and-prevents the passage of gas past the inner edge of the piston. As will be noted from an inspection of Fig. 3, the dummy piston is provided with a series of piston' ringsto cause it to fit closely in the chamber.

' shafts together.

In order to reduce the friction between the valve and its seat to a minimum, and to allowuthe valve to rotate freely when expanded, the greater portion of the seat nular duct in. the lower portion of the seat which communicates with a return pipe 36.

With this construction, the valve-is tightly held between the dummy pistons and the concentric portion of the valve seat adja-.

cent to the cylinder ports and may be retated with a minimum amount of friction.

The valve is efficiently cooled by provid ing a hollow shell, indicated at 37, which is connected at the top and bottom with passages formed in the spindle 38 of the valve. The valve is rigidly connected at its lower end to a shaft 40 which is provided with two passages registering with the passages in the spindle 38; This shaft passes through the bottom of the valve housing and a gas tight joint, indicated at 41, pre vents the escape of gas between the rotating shaft and the housing. The lower end of the shaft outside of the housing carries a stuffing box 45 which is provided with two chambers 46 and 47 communicating with the two passages in the shaft 40. A plurality of packing members, indicated at 48, surround the shaft 40 and serve to prevent leakage out of the stuffing box or from one chamber to another. With this construction, the open ends of the passages in the continuous flow of water to be secured which, passes through the shaft and water jacket of the valve.

The two chambers in the stufling box are connected withany convenient type of water circulating system through flexibleconnections, indicated at 50 and 51 respectively. The stuffing box is held against rotation by an L-shapedibracket 53 secured to the wall ofone of the adjacent cylinders andhaving a bifurcated outer end which engages opposite sides of a stud 54 projecting laterally from the stufiing box. This construction prevents any rotation of the stufling box, but allows a free lateral and vertical movement of the stufiing box.

- In order to compensate for any eccentricitybetweenthe shaft 13 and the shaft 40, a nniversaljoint connection, indicated at 55, is provided for. connecting the two mg, and adjusted by a plurality of ad- The valve is prevented from moving vertically when the motor is portion of the valve housing and bearing justing screws 61 threaded in the upper indicated at '65 and is balanced laterally by a pair of pressure chambers 66 and 67 which are positioned diametricallyopposite to the cylinder port 68. These chambers are connected with the combustion chamber of the cylinder through a pipe, indicated at 69, and each chamber is provided with. a dummy piston 70 of the usual form to seal the chamber and prevent leakage of the gas.

between the wall of the valve and the valve and housing. In order to maintain a tight joint between the valve and seat adjacent the cylinder port,,'.a dummy piston 71.is slidingly supported in the cylinder port and is arranged with its inneredgebearing against the wall of the valve. The

outer face of thispiston 'is subjected to thevarying pressures Within the combustion chamber and serves ,to maintain a tight joint between the -valve and seat at this point. 1

In the construction shown in the drawings, the" dummy piston is slidingly supported in a sleeve 1 of the cylinder and enabling the dummy piston to be readilyinserted and removed from the valve when desired. In this construction the inlet and exhaust ports of the valve are circular in torm'and register acrounding the lower end of the spindle and 'inclosing the open ends of the passages, and

curately with the bore of the piston.

The valve is retained from vertical movement in 1ts seat by an annular ring72 interposed between the upper faceof the valve and the top of the' valve housing. Cooling water is led into an internal waterjacket formed in the wall of the valve through a passage 73 formed in the spindle and communicating at its upper 'end with the water jacket. The lower end of the passage opens into a chamber 74 formed in a stuifing box 75 which is secured to the under side of the valve housing. -The stulling box 75 is provided with the usual packing member 76 and a water intake pipe 77. The upper end of the valve spindle extends abwe the valve housing and is provided with a water passage 80 which communicates with the upper portion of the water jacket and serves to lead the heated water away from the valve. This passage'opens 8 threaded in the wall into a chamber 81 formed in a stufling box 182 which is secured to the upper portion of 1 the valve housing. The stuffing box is pro-' .vided with the usual packing members 83 and a return pipe 84-to remove the heatedwater from the valve.

Whileit is preferred to employ the specific construction and arrangement of parts shown and described, it will be understood that this construction and arrangement is not essential except so far as specified in the claims, and may be changed or modified without departing from the broader features of the invention.

The invention having what is claimed is:

' 1. An internal combustion motor, having in combination, a power cylinder, a valve been described,

"chamber having a port opening, into the cylinder, a cylindrical valve having a port midway of its ends arranged to register with the cylinder port, means for continuously rotating the valve, a plurality of pressure chambers located diametrically opposite the cylinder port adjacent the ends of the valve and disposed symmetrically in a longitudinal relation to the valve in order to equalize the balancing pressure exerted upon the. ends of the valve, and connections between the pressure chambers and the cylinde rs. I

2. An internal combustion motor comprisinga cylinder, avalve housing supported adacent to the cylinder, a water jacketed valve rotating therein, a valve spindle having passages formed therein and connecting with the water jacket of the valve, a stuffing box surspindle for rotating the valve having a plurality of passages formed therein connecting with the water jacket of the valve, and water tight connections for leading water to and from the passages, substantially asidescribed.

' GUY B. COLLIER.

Witnesses:

BURTON W. CARY, GEORGE E. STEBBINs. 

